


Straight to Hell

by OceannanotOceania



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Character Death, F/M, FYRTFF Scarefest Challenge 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 17:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2436209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceannanotOceania/pseuds/OceannanotOceania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Gavin finds an untitled book at a neighbor's house, there's a string of disappearances and death around the Achievement Hunter office.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Straight to Hell

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from [FYRTFF](http://fuckyeahrtfanfic.tumblr.com/post/99442936916/). Also written for the second week of their Scarefest Challenge.

Gavin paused, glancing to the weathered cardboard box filled to the brim with books that sat outside of one of his neighbors' house. There was a sign stuck into the lawn behind the box, the plastic sheet covering the sign almost as damp and weathered as the box below. The sign read in big, red block letters, _Take a Book, Give a Book_.

Gavin shrugged, walking over to the weathered box and kneeling in front of it. He sifted through the books in the box, most of them old paperback novels with yellowed pages and slowly crumbling covers. He stopped when his eyes rested upon a leather hardcover. He pulled out the book slowly.

Leather wouldn’t exactly be the best description for what the hardcover was made out of. It was a light brown color, and the material felt sturdy enough, but the stiffness of the material made Gavin think of something completely different than leather. The book itself was about half the size of a normal book, and was about three inches thick. The pages were yellowed, though much lighter than the books in the box. Despite how new the book looked, Gavin couldn’t help thinking that maybe it was actually a lot older than it seemed.

Gavin continued to stare at the book for a few minutes, shrugging before holding it in one hand and getting up. He headed back to his house.

\---

Gavin’s eyes flickered over to the bathroom, where Meg was in the middle of taking a shower. He paused before leaning over to the nightstand on the side of his bed and pulling out the book he’d gotten almost a week ago. His hand lightly stroked the front cover of the book. Despite the fact that he’d had it for a fair amount of time, Gavin couldn’t quite bring himself to actually read it. There was something slightly unnerving about the book, making it hard for Gavin to even look at the book for very long before he’d shove the thing back into the drawer of his nightstand.

But today was going to be different. Gavin let out a breath, looking down at the book sat in his lap. He’d never figured out if the book exactly had a title; he’d scoured the cover of the book but couldn’t find a single bit of text anywhere. Gavin bit at his lip, and stopped stroking the cover of the book. His hand grabbed the edge of the cover.

Gavin looked up, eyes wide as he shoved the book under his pillow right before the bathroom door opened. A faint cloud of steam billowed out of the door, followed by Meg clad in typical t-shirt and jeans, her hair still slightly damp from showering. She walked over to Gavin, a small smile on her face, before she pecked Gavin on the lips. Gavin half-heartedly kissed her in return.

“Shower’s open for you.” Meg said.

Gavin nodded. “Thanks love.”

Meg frowned. “You okay, Gav?”

“Ye-yeah.” He paused, eyes flickering to the bathroom. “Go on downstairs, I’ll meet up with you in a bit.”

Meg slowly nodded. “Yeah, alright. See you in a bit.”

Meg walked out of the bedroom, her eyes flickering back to Gavin before she closed the door.

Gavin kept his eyes fixed on the door for a moment longer before he shook his head. He leaned forward slightly, grabbing the book out from underneath the pillow. He placed the book in his lap, grabbing the edge of the cover. Gavin let out a breath.

He opened the cover, turning through the book. The first few pages were completely empty, and there was no title page or anything that’d actually be found in a normal book. Briefly, the thought of this actually being some sort of journal passed through his mind.

The first page that actually had text on it was...interesting. The top of the page had some sort of strange creature reminiscent of an evil cherub, a grin on the creature’s face. In black, block letters below the picture was the word _Introduction_ , and a few spaces down, the text actually began.

_Welcome, I’m glad that you’ve stumbled upon this book! It’s good to see that even the lack of a title wasn’t a deterrent from you reading this! Throughout this book, you’ll find a list of the strangest deaths I’ve encountered throughout my lifetime. While it might seem like it could get a bit boring at times, don’t worry, I’ve stumbled upon quite a number of goodies over the years._

_Now, you may be curious about my name. However, let’s keep that curiosity pointed towards the contents of this book. If you insist on having something to call me, then I’ll just go by “Arnold Friend”._

_Right. Now that we’ve gotten these formalities out of the way, let’s get to the real reason you got this book! Hope you enjoy!_

Gavin slowly raised an eyebrow, his eyes flickering over the introduction again. What? So it was just...

Gavin shook his head. Despite the fact that Gavin couldn’t help wondering how so many deaths could be compiled into one tiny book, the man felt some sort of pull to continue to read. Gavin paused, biting at his lip before he turned the page.

While naming the introduction in most books would mean having chapters titled as well, it wasn’t the case for this book. Instead, that same strange creature that had hung above the introduction on the first page was there, grinning that stupid, creepy grin. Gavin’s eyes flickered away from the thing as he started to read.

_For our first death, let’s go a ways back, shall we? The Tang Dynasty is considered by many to be the “Golden Age of China”. With the establishment of the imperial exams and a complete upheaval of the government structure, China was able to have a much more stable country. Trade was at its peak along the Silk Road, an area well-utilized by the Chinese, along with their nearby Persian and Sogdian partners. Poetry flourished at this time, the two most prominent poets being Du Fu and the subject of this story, Li Bai._

_Li was born around the middle of the Tang Dynasty, around 701. In his lifetime, he was credited to writing around a thousand poems, all of them surrounding friendship, solitude, and the pleasures of drinking. In the end, Li’s penchant for wine brought him to an end. Li ultimately died in 762, believed to be incredibly drunk while in a boat. He saw the reflection of the moon in the ocean around him, and ultimately fell overboard and drowned while trying to kiss the moon’s reflection. Now that’s one way to go, huh?_

Gavin closed the book, slowly shaking his head. He glanced over to the alarm clock on his nightstand, his eyes widening.

He really needed to go now.

~

“Any of you guys seen Kdin?” Geoff asked, walking out of the small, adjoining office of Achievement Hunter.

Michael turned away from the screen he was looking at, slowly shaking his head. Geoff’s eyes flickered across the room as he heard a chorus of ‘Nope.’, ‘I don’t think so’, or just shaking heads. Gavin merely shrugged when Geoff’s eyes landed on him.

Geoff slowly nodded. “Lindsay hasn’t seen the little punk around either. Right, just let me know if you guys see him, alright?”

“Yup.” Gavin replied, the rest of the AH crew replying in similar ways.

Gavin frowned as he turned back to his screen. Wasn’t Kdin normally pretty good about showing up to work on time? If nothing else, he’d normally call Geoff if he was having issues, something Gavin had seen a few times when Geoff would randomly get a call as he was driving Gavin to work.

Gavin shook his head, looking back up to the game he’d been playing before grabbing his controller.

\---

Gavin turned to look to his left, seeing Meg quietly sleeping, the girl currently turned away from him. The man was currently sat straight up in bed, his legs sprawled down the bed. Gavin paused a moment before he leaned over to turn on the lamp, and grabbed the book out from the drawer in his nightstand.

Gavin kept his eyes fixed on Meg for a bit longer, waiting to see if she was going to wake up, before he let out a small sigh. He placed the book in his lap, and turned to the page where he’d stuck a folded up piece of paper in as a book mark. His eyes flickered away from the creature that was leering at him at the top of the page before he started to read.

_While it’d likely make sense to actually write these deaths in chronological order, that’s no fun, is it? So for this next death, let’s go a lot more recent, shall we?_

_You’d never consider cows to be deadly killers, would you? When you hear the word cow, you probably just think of those guys out grazing on a field, idly chewing cud, or shoved into a pen as they get milked. Deadly is the last word on your mind, right? You might want to change that mindset, though._

_In July of 2013, a man named João Maria de Souza learned how cows could be deadly when, in the middle of the night while he was asleep, a cow crashed through his roof, landing straight onto him while leaving his wife, Leni, unscathed. Meanwhile, our João came out of the situation with a fractured leg. João was taken straight to a hospital, and stayed there for several hours. Despite that though, João ended up dying from what was likely internal bleeding from the fracture. Now then, that’s one way to learn that animals are deadlier than you’d think!_

Gavin placed the book on his nightstand, an eyebrow raised. These are definitely strange, but... Gavin bit at his lip. How the hell could a book that looked so old have a story that recent?

There was a small sigh to his left and Gavin turned, seeing Meg look up at him as she rubbed one eye.

“You okay, Gav?”

Gavin blinked a few times, shaking his head. “Yeah, I was just, just reading.” He leaned over, pecking Meg on the lips. “I’m gonna sleep now, love.”

Meg nodded. “Night, Gav.” She turned away from Gavin, settling back into the bed.

Gavin looked straight back to his nightstand, glad that Meg hadn’t made any comment about what exactly he was reading, and shoved the book back into the drawer of his nightstand before turning the lamp off.

~

Geoff came into the office, eyes wide. “I-Is everyone here right now?”

“Let me grab Lindsay.” Michael replied, walking over to the smaller office.

The rest of Achievement Hunter walked over to Geoff, who was stood close to the front door. Caleb walked in a few minutes later, an uneasy expression on his face.

“You needed me?” Caleb asked hesitantly, his eyes flickering over to the rest of the Achievement Hunters, who had equally confused looks on their faces.

Michael came back with Lindsay, and Gavin looked over to the pair. Michael was biting at his lip, his expression more uneasy than confused, while Lindsay shared the same confusion as everyone else.

“So, I know we haven’t heard from Kdin this past week, but,” Geoff paused. “Turns out there’s a bigger reason why he hasn’t been here at all.”

Geoff let out a breath. “The police department found Kdin’s body last night a few blocks down from his apartment. It looked like he had drowned, but they couldn’t really tell if it was his own doing or someone else’s.”

The whole room remained silent.

“We’ve got enough videos to last us the next week, so let’s just put the finishing touches on a few of them, and get them set up to upload.” Geoff said. “I, I want to give you guys some time off since this sorta shit happened.”

Michael nodded.

“Who do you want doing what?” Ray asked.

Geoff glanced around the room, letting out a breath before he started assigning tasks to everyone.

About an hour later, Gavin glanced over to see that Geoff had gotten up, slowly pacing as he bit at his lip.

“Geoff?” Gavin asked.

Geoff glanced over to Gavin. “Have any of you guys seen Ryan today? I know the guy can sometimes be late, but...”

The rest of Achievement Hunter replied with some variation of ‘No’. Geoff nodded.

“If we don’t see him in another hour, I’m gonna call his wife then.” Geoff let out a breath, pausing before he went back to his desk.

~

Gavin glanced back to his nightstand. The book was still in its normal place inside the nightstand’s drawer, but Gavin couldn’t quite bring himself to look at it.

Ryan had been gone for almost two weeks now. Geoff had finally decided to call the police after he’d called Ryan’s wife, who said that she thought Ryan was already at work. The police had tried to start an investigation, getting information both from Ryan’s wife and everyone at Achievement Hunter. However, even with everything the police were given, they couldn’t find anything that would help them find Ryan.

Everything at Ryan’s house was as clean as it normally was, and anything that Ryan would touch looked as if the man was still actually living there. All that despite the fact that as far as Ryan’s wife could tell, the man hadn’t been home at all.

Gavin let out a breath, sinking further into his bed. His eyes flickered to the front door. Meg was in the other room, likely working on cosplay or filming videos for her channel. And while Gavin would normally jump on the opportunity to bother her the slightest bit, he didn’t feel up to it today.

Gavin’s eyes flickered over to the book. He furrowed his brow. The first death Gavin had read about had something to do with drowning, didn’t it? Gavin leaned over and grabbed the book out of the drawer. He licked his lips, feeling some amount of hesitation to open the book. Yeah, it was some Chinese dude, wasn’t it? The guy was trying to kiss the moon and ended up falling into the ocean and drowning.

A few days after Kdin’s body had been found, Geoff had been able to get out of the police that there had been a lot of alcohol found in the man’s bloodstream. In addition, there had been some sort of note found in his pocket. Oddly enough, the paper wasn’t even wet, even though the rest of his body was still pretty soaked. And, if Gavin was remembering correctly, the note had mentioned some sort of nonsense about...

Gavin’s eyes widened. The moon.

His eyes flickered down to the book in his lap. This, this can’t be related to Kdin’s death, could it?

Gavin shook his head. No, no, it’s just a coincidence, it’s got to be a coincidence.

Gavin bit at his lip, his hand ghosting the edge of the book’s front cover. He let out a breath before opening the book, and turning to where his makeshift bookmark was.

_Modern day deaths are always more interesting, right? There are some pretty funny ones in the past, granted, but I feel like nothing can beat the stupidity of people in the 21st century. So let’s see another death from the 2000s, shall we?_

_While technically this medication came out in the late 90s, Viagra has become a hot commodity in our society, all because that magic little blue pill can help any guy who’s got issues down there. However, like any medication, Viagra isn’t good in large doses. This is a lesson Sergey Tuganov learned in 2009._

_Tuganov had been pulled into a bet with a couple of his female friends who said that he couldn’t please them during a non-stop twelve-hour sex romp. In order to win, Tuganov took a whole bottle of Viagra. While Tuganov was able to win the bet, not long after he suffered a heart attack. So, let this be a reminder from your good old Arnold Friend that it’s always important to take things in moderation!_

Gavin raised an eyebrow. Alright then. Guess that’s one way to go. His eyes flickered to Meg, who was deep asleep. He let out a breath, placing the book back in its customary spot before turning off the lamp. Gavin slowly lay back in bed, turning to face Meg before he curled around her, draping his arm around Meg’s waist. He closed his eyes, trying to push back his worries about Kdin and Ryan.

~

The next morning, the police found Ryan’s body. Geoff broke the news to Achievement Hunter, his eyes ringed with red and bags under his eyes. Everyone remained silent as Geoff explained to them what had happened. Ryan’s body was found a few blocks down from his house. They couldn't tell exactly how Ryan died, but they noticed that there were what looked like dirt impressions of hooves on the man’s chest. The police promised that they would keep Geoff and Ryan’s wife updated on what they found as the case went on.

Geoff let out a breath, his eyes flickering around the room. “And to add on to all this shit, Ray hasn’t answered his phone at all today.”

Gavin’s eyes widened, the whole room seeming to take in a breath at the exact same time.

“Fucking Christ, the hell’s going on here?” Michael mumbled.

Gavin’s eyes flickered over to Michael, who was glancing over to Lindsay, both exhaustion and sadness in his eyes. Lindsay’s expression practically mirrored Michael’s own.

Geoff shrugged. “I, I don’t know.” He let out a breath. “Just, unless you guys insist, let’s just take today off. I’ll post a journal to the RT site in a bit to explain all of the shit going on. I’m guessing everyone’ll understand why we’re acting the way we are.

“Geoff, I’ll stay around to help you edit the last few videos we’ve got.” Gavin said, his eyes flickering over to Geoff.

Geoff had a small smile on his face, making him look more like his normal self. “Thanks Gav.”

“You’re not shooing us all off, you know?” Michael chimed in, something like a smirk on his face. “All this shit’s fucked up, and I hate it all, but that doesn’t mean I’m lumping a bunch of work onto you.”

“Same here.” Lindsay added.

Jack nodded. “Don’t be so stupid, Geoff, we’re not leaving you in the dust like that.”

Geoff relaxed slightly, a smile on his face. “Thanks guys.”

~

Gavin stared at the book in his lap.

There was no way to ignore this anymore. Somehow, this book was connected to all of the recent deaths and disappearances recently. The police had gotten back to Geoff a couple of days after they had found Ryan’s body, saying that the man had a fractured femur. The bone cut against the femoral artery, and he ended up dying from internal bleeding.

All the deaths recently seemed to match the deaths Gavin had read about: Kdin dying from drowning, a note shoved into his pocket that had some sort of gibberish about the moon written on it; and then Ryan, found with the dirt impression of cow hooves in his shirt, and a fractured leg.

Gavin’s fingers brushed along the cover of the book. But, despite that, Gavin felt like he needed to read the thing again. There was something that he was missing.

Gavin let out a breath. The bedroom door opened then, and Gavin shot straight up.

“Hey Gav-” Meg frowned. “Whatcha got there?”

Gavin looked away from Meg, his hand shoving the book further under his pillow. “It’s nothing.”

Meg raised an eyebrow. “Right.” She walked closer to Gavin, Gavin scrambling slightly as he scooted closer to the tan, wooden headboard behind him. “Come on Gav, it can’t be that bad, can it?”

Gavin bit at his lip. “Al-alright.”

He slowly pulled the book from under his pillow, placing it in his lip. Gavin turned the book towards Meg, and looked up to see a quizzical expression on Meg’s face.

“So, what is it exactly?” Meg asked.

“It’s just something I picked up at that _Give a Book, Take a Book_  thing a few houses down.” Gavin replied.

“Right.” Meg nodded slowly, leaning over to pick up the book. She grimaced slightly. “What the hell kind of material is this?”

Gavin shrugged. “Not leather, that’s all I know.”

“Yeah, that’s apparent.” Meg replied, still staring at the book. She paused a moment before opening the book to wear Gavin had shoved his makeshift bookmark in.

“ _In this lovely death, I’d like to remind you all of the importance of watching your step,_ ” Meg started to recite, raising an eyebrow. “What is this, Gav?”

“It’s just a funny book, it’s nothing to worry about love.”

Meg started to turn through the book, and Gavin lunged for the book, grabbing it out of Meg’s hands.

“What the hell, Gavin?” Meg said, voice raised. “Is this book really that big of a deal to you?”

“No, it’s not, it’s just,” Gavin bit at his lip. “Just, trust me when I say that you shouldn’t read this, okay?”

Meg raised an eyebrow. She shook her head, letting out a breath. “Alright Gav.” She paused. “Look, your new obsession over that thing isn’t just because of what’s been happening at work, right?”

Gavin bit at his lip. “N-no. No, it’s not.”

“Alright then, I’ll take your word.” Meg replied, skepticism briefly in her expression. She shook her head. “So, you fine with take out tonight? Not really in the mood to cook.”

“Sounds top.” Gavin replied.

Meg leaned forward, pressing a chaste kiss to Gavin’s lips. “I’ll go order some stuff then. See you in a bit?”

Gavin nodded. Meg flashed a small smile before walking out of the room.

Gavin bit at his lip, pausing a moment. While there was a small part of his mind that was making him hesitant, Gavin couldn’t help giving into the need to read the rest of the story, and ended up flipping to the page he had been on. Gavin let out a sigh bordering relief.

_In this lovely death, I’d like to remind you of the importance of watching your step. David Douglas was a Scottish botanist who had explored much of the Scottish Highlands, and had gone on three expeditions to North America and Hawaii. Douglas has been attributed to the introduction of several hundred of plants into Great Britain, and with it, Europe. Douglas’ name is used in the scientific names of certain plants found in Hawaii, for instance the hala. In addition, while the scientific name for this tree actually refers to Douglas’ rival, the common name for the Douglas fir tree is named after him._

_Ultimately, the third trip Douglas took to Hawaii in 1834 would be his last in more ways than one. On this trip, in which Douglas intended to stay in Hawaii for three months, Douglas climbed up Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in Hawaii. While there is still some speculation around the matter, most people have come to agree that Douglas died after falling into a pit trap that a bull had fallen into. So next time you go out into the wilderness, remember to watch your step, who knows where you could end up next!_

Gavin placed the book back on the nightstand. He stared at the book for a brief moment before shaking his head.

Yep, he was still missing something.

Gavin let out a breath, getting out of the bed, and going downstairs to see Meg.

\---

Gavin had migrated to the desk in his bedroom, the book sat to his left, while his phone was in front of him, still lighting up with texts.

Geoff had decided to have everyone take off for today after he had gotten a call about how Ray’s body had been found a block down from his apartment complex. The man told all that remained of Achievement Hunter about how Ray appeared to have died of something like a heart attack, and that the police had found an empty bottle of medicine with the label ripped off near his body. Not even an hour after that, Lindsay had texted everyone asking if someone had seen Michael at all today, or at least heard from him.

And that is the reason Gavin’s phone continued to light up as he continued to be barraged with texts about Michael and where exactly the man could have gone. Gavin had tried texting him a lot today, and each time the text remained unread. Hell, the last couple he had sent had failed to even deliver in the first place.

Gavin put his phone down, his eyes flickering over to the book. He pushed his phone away, pausing a moment before he pulled the book towards him. Gavin ran his hand along the cover.

Gavin had ultimately reflected on it longer than he should have, and ended up coming to one conclusion: this book, somehow, was causing the disappearances. With each chapter he read, someone would go missing. The only way that the person’s body could be found is if Gavin read the next chapter of the book. However, with that, the person who had gone missing would show up dead, their cause of death mirroring the chapter Gavin had read before they went missing. This explained how Kdin’s death had so closely matched along that strange Chinese poet’s death, along with Ray and Ryan.

Gavin gulped. And now Michael was missing. So now, Gavin had a very, very big crisis on his hands: should he read another chapter of the book, and have Michael show up mutilated in the same way that Douglas guy had died; or does he just leave the book be in order to prevent someone else from going missing?

Gavin’s phone lit up again, and he pulled it over, seeing the number of texts Lindsay had sent, both to Gavin and in a group text with what remained of Achievement Hunter, along with a text from Geoff to everyone saying how he had posted an updated journal about everything that had happened in the last couple of weeks.

Gavin bit at his lip, placing his phone back on the table. He had to do it. He had to read another chapter.

Gavin pulled the book back over to him, staring at the blank cover. He paused a moment, his eyes widening slightly. What if, somehow, reading the last chapter brought an end to all of this? Maybe if he just read that chapter, all of this bullshit could pass by. And maybe, just maybe, no one else would have to go missing.

Gavin let out a breath. It’s not like he could do much else; regardless of what happens, the idea of Michael’s body showing up seemed more like it would comfort Lindsay than Michael continuing to be gone without a trace. Gavin bit at his lip again, pausing before he flipped to the back of the book.

Gavin could tell that he had hit the equivalent of the last chapter when he didn’t see the graphic of that leering cherub hybrid thing at the top of the page. Instead, Gavin merely saw the words Final Death in black block letters at the top of the page.

_Now then, this death is probably the weirdest one you’ll find in this book. The biggest reason for that is, well, it hasn’t happened yet. So, it’s a bit hard for me to talk about it. And, actually, this death might be the kind that’s better to show and tell._

Gavin stopped reading for a moment, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He bit at his lip, his eyes hesitantly flickering down to the book in front of him.

_Let this be a lesson to you, GAVIN FREE, that one should not try to tempt fate._

Gavin’s eyes widened, and he pushed away the book before he felt something grab him from behind. Gavin flailed in response, trying to get out of the grip of whatever was holding him, though his attempt was in vain.

And then, everything went black.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So I'll be honest and say that I tried to use a fairly different style from my own while I was writing the little death entries, and I hope that it actually sounded okay! :'D Also, I've got a [Tumblr](http://oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com/), so feel free to drop me a prompt or two there.


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